LOS ANGELES — Following LAFC‘s third goal on Saturday night, which sent most of the 75,600-plus in attendance into a frenzy at the L.A. Coliseum, a fan with an Argentina jersey rushed on to the field and immediately sprinted toward Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi.

The scene is a common one for any event involving the 2022 World Cup winner, but this time the celebratory music blasting out was not for him, as Miami was losing 3-0. Indeed, in Messi’s first official game of 2026 with the defending MLS Cup champions, the initial pages of the Hollywood script being written for him in another World Cup year didn’t exactly go to plan.

Ahead of Saturday’s marquee MLS opening-weekend match against Son Heung-min‘s LAFC, there had been doubts that Messi would participate after he suffered a hamstring injury during Miami’s preseason friendly in February.

At 38 years old, it was fair to not only worry about his start to the MLS season but also wonder if this could point to issues in this summer’s World Cup. After all, Messi has yet to 100% commit to this summer’s tournament with Argentina and has been honest about his fitness being a factor.

“I would like to be there. To feel well and to be an important part of helping my national team, if I am there,” Messi said, back in October. “I am going to assess that on a day-to-day basis when I start preseason next year with Inter [Miami] and see if I can really be 100%. I’m really eager because it’s the World Cup.”

Although Miami head coach Javier Mascherano said Friday that the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner was “training at the same level as the rest of the team all week,” Miami’s No. 10 looked off his game against LAFC.

During the first 10 minutes, Messi’s touch looked unexpectedly imprecise, as did the timing of his passes. His distribution did eventually improve and he was fairly unlucky to not have an assist, but the same could not be said for his shooting as he was unable to hit the target once.

Messi wasn’t alone either. Whether it was down to adjusting to having new striker Germán Berterame up top, or its captain having a less-than-perfect game, Miami wasn’t able to gain much momentum until after LAFC took a 1-0 lead through a goal from David Martínez that was assisted by Son.

The 33-year-old South Korea international has his own aspirations ahead of the World Cup after leaving Tottenham Hotspur last year, and what was eye-catching for a match featuring Messi was just how many LAFC supporters — with plenty sporting jerseys with Son’s name — heavily outnumbered those donning the pink kit of arguably the greatest soccer player of all time.

Messi didn’t receive overwhelming cheers when he had the ball at his feet. In fact, at one point when hit the ground late in the game and didn’t earn a foul, a chorus of boos emerged from countless supporters in the L.A. Coliseum.

“No, no, no I didn’t see anything,” Mascherano said postmatch on whether his captain seemed angry about the refereeing decisions, or the result in general. “The truth is that the match finished and then I went into the locker room.”

Following goals from Denis Bouanga and Nathan Ordaz that solidified a 3-0 loss for Miami, Messi quickly exchanged jerseys with Bouanga after the final whistle, and then swiftly exited the field first.

So, after one loss, is it too early to panic about Messi’s Miami?

“The reality is that they beat us fair and square, that’s the truth,” Mascherano said afterward. “I think it’s often difficult to explain when you lose 3-0, but my initial analysis gives me the feeling that the result was somewhat misleading. The game, as it unfolded, there wasn’t that much of a difference.

“As coaching staff, we have to analyze the game, not just the result, because if we only focus on the result, we’re only making decisions based on whether we win or lose. I think that in the game, we saw aspects of the style of play we want, which we need to improve.”

Messi will need to improve but, to be fair to him, we shouldn’t take this inch and run a mile after his first game of the year. Mascherano recently stated that Messi was healthy enough to return to full-team training, but the forward was only recently recovering from a hamstring injury, so it’s no major shock that he was off the pace a bit.

Doubting Messi is a fool’s errand, and he didn’t have an entirely poor showing on Saturday. Indeed, he made a handful of dangerous passes that should have led to at least one goal for Miami, and also did well to carry the ball forward occasionally.

It was a decent game, but decent isn’t what you expect from Messi, especially during a World Cup year. It’s premature to make any long-term judgments, but if the script doesn’t change in the next month or so then questions will start to be asked.

“He will decide, and we will support whatever he decides,” Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni said in December about whether Messi will be at the World Cup. “In principle, everything is going well, but six months is a long time. There is still time.”

With four months to go, the clock is ticking.

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

The NFL community continues to mourn the death of wide receiver Rondale Moore, who was found dead at his Indiana home on Saturday night, officials said. 

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown was among those who couldn’t believe the news, and he revealed he had just spoken with Moore not hours before he was discovered with a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound in a garage.

As tributes poured in on social media for Moore, Brown said that he received a message from his fellow receiver earlier on Saturday. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

“Bro ain’t no way brotha you just messaged me [a] few hours ago,” Brown wrote on X. Brown posted another tweet saying, “You wasn’t alone bro… I told you I know how you feel.”

Brown also reposted tributes from other NFL players like Raheem Mostert, Elijah Moore, Jamal Adams and others. 

He even shared a text thread that he had with Moore, where he shared words of encouragement after the receiver suffered another season-ending injury. He had dealt with one in 2024, and during the Minnesota Vikings’ first preseason game of 2025, Moore tore his ACL on Aug. 9, 2025. 

NFL WIDE RECEIVER RONDALE MOORE DEAD AT 25

“Praying for you brother,” Brown wrote to Moore with a praying hands emoji, “sometimes in life when stuff don’t go as planned as frustrating as it may be have to always remember God is in control, his plan will always prevail all we can do is trust him and always remember someone has it worse. I’m here if you ever need to talk bro I know how s— feel it sucks dawg but knowing you, you built for this don’t give up [flexed arm emoji.”

New Albany police chief Todd Bailey broke the news that Moore was found in a garage with a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. The death remains under investigation.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Rondale Moore (4) before the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 15, 2023.  (Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports)

Floyd County Coroner Matthew Tomlin also confirmed Moore’s death. He said an autopsy would take place on Sunday. 

Moore entered the NFL as an Arizona Cardinals pick in the 2021 NFL Draft after starring at Purdue. He played three seasons with the Cardinals before he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons in 2024. However, a season-ending injury cut his time short in Atlanta.

“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family, friends, teammates, and everyone who loved him and had the privilege of knowing such a special person,” the Cardinals said in a statement.

He would join the Vikings before the start of last season, but that injury in August didn’t allow him to get a shot at making the roster for that season.

Chiefs receiver Hollywood Brown revealed Rondale Moore messaged him just hours before his death on Saturday night. (GETTY)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“I am devastated by the news of Rondale’s death. While Rondale had been a member of the Vikings for a short time, he was someone we came to know well and care about deeply,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said in a statement. “He was a humble, soft-spoken, and respectful young man who was proud of his Indiana roots.

“As a player, he was disciplined, dedicated and resilient despite facing adversity multiple times as injuries sidelined him throughout his career. We are all heartbroken by the fact he won’t continue to live out his NFL dream and we won’t all have a chance to watch him flourish.”

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Team Israel Olympic bobsled captain AJ Edelman has accomplished a life mission — leading the first ever Israeli bobsled team to the reach the Olympics.

He had to sacrifice millions in Bitcoin to get his team to Milan Cortina, then had to live off smoked salmon and pizza for two weeks when he got there. 

It wasn’t even the best pizza that he’s had. He prefers Chicago deep dish. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

And the whole team had to take some arrows throughout the process. The hotel Edelman’s team was saying at was burglarized days before the competition began.

Then, when they finally made it onto the track, a broadcaster went on a politically charged tirade against the team while it competed. The broadcaster referenced the military service of several athletes on the team. 

“Edelman, a first-time Olympian and self-described ‘Zionist to the core,’ who has posted several messages on social media in support of the genocide in Gaza,” RTS presenter Stefan Renna said during the team’s heat in the men’s two-man bobsled Olympic competition on Feb. 16. 

“This raises the question of his presence in Cortina during these games, since the [International Olympic Committee] had indicated that athletes who have — and I quote — ‘actively supported the war by participating in pro-war events, being militarily engaged, or via their activities on their social media networks’ were not eligible to participate.”

The entire broadcast was later removed from the RTS website. But millions had already found out about it, including Edelman and his teammates. 

“This individual clearly pre-wrote a diatribe timed to two minutes, you know, the entirety of our run. I just think it’s so sad, I don’t know how you can live like that,” he said. 

“On a personal level, I’ve dealt with so much worse. I said those things. I said I’m a Zionist, I said I’m proud of Ward [Fawarseh], who served. I said that. I said what I said. I believe Israel is just. I believe it’s a force for good. I stand for that force for good. I represent that force for good. So when someone just says that I represent evil or I am evil for representing what I represent, it’s like water off the back.” 

Multiple members of the Israeli team served in the nation’s military. Some of them were deployed to Gaza to fight Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

“Israelis are Israelis. What they do in the service of the country is always going to define who they are,” Edelman said. 

“We view ourselves right now entirely as athletes… I can say that as athletes, as men, as humans and Israelis, I’m very proud of their accomplishments on the Olympic stage.”

The team finished 26th in the two-man bobsled competition, falling short of Edelman’s pre-Olympic goal of making the top 20. Germany won 10 of all 12 bobsled medals and all eight golds and silvers in Milan Cortina. The team was then disqualified by the Israel Olympic Federation after one of its athletes lied to Olympic officials about an illness so the team could make a substitution. The team did not make it to the last day of the games. 

Prior to that, Edelman celebrated the accomplishment due to its historic symbolism and the adversity it took to get there. 

The team came just 0.01 seconds shy of making the Beijing Games four years ago. Then many of the team’s athletes were called to war after Oct. 7 the following year. 

For Edelman, just ensuring the team existed at that point was anything but certain. 

They came all the way back to qualify for Milan Cortina in what was, one way or another, Edelman’s last attempt at the Olympics.

OLYMPIANS SPEAK OUT IN DEFENSE OF EILEEN GU AMID CRITICISM FOR COMPETING FOR CHINA OVER US

But they couldn’t even make it to Milan Cortina before adversity struck. 

En route to Italy, the team was staying at a hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. As captain, Edelman traveled ahead to Venice, and that’s when he found out his team’s hotel in Prague had been burglarized and vandalized. 

“It was just another Tuesday for us,” Edelman said. 

“We’ve been turned away from staying from places in Germany because it was Christmas Eve and they saw that we’re Jewish. Another athlete who is competing in the Games this time actually said that he wouldn’t ever compete on this team because Israel is a bunch of ‘baby killers.’ A swastika was drawn on our team van.” 

They moved past the burglary to put their best foot forward once the competition began. 

The reward came when fan mail from Israel started flowing in. It reminded Edelman and his teammates why they did this. They wanted to inspire their countrymen, especially the next generation, to achieve unlikely feats. 

“The reception of the team has been overwhelming,” Edelman said. “They’re putting their hopes and their dreams into your journey, and that’s just something very special. When they think back on it, they probably won’t remember you, they probably won’t remember you at all, but they’ll remember the country was represented.” 

In the final days of the games, as Edelman came to the end of his journey of more than a decade, he reflected on it all.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Israel’s Adam Edelman, left, and Menachem Chen arrive at the finish during a two-man bobsled run at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

“I still haven’t processed really being here,” Edelman said. “I don’t know what it will look like when all that is said and done…. 

“I’ve woken up every day for the last 12 years and went to bed every night for the last 12 years with a goal in mind, and with a determination to get this thing done. Now that I will have realized that it is done, I don’t know exactly how that will look like. I think in some sense I’m worried, in some sense I’m excited.”

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.